When I last wrote about Angola, it was about the country’s culture and customs , because why not? If I am ever able to travel there, it will be useful information. For this country-by-country challenge, I went with fiction. Saudadeis a novella by Suneeta Peres da Costa about a Goan (Indian) family living in Angola… [Read More]
Blog
Category: Africa
Djibouti: Beau Travail
Djibouti has a strategic location, an excellent deep water port on the Red Sea, and a relatively poor population. Much of the nation’s land is salt flats. When I last took a look at Djibouti, it was in the form of a mystery adventure set at the port. This time, the story is different. Beau… [Read More]
Algeria: Cousin K
Albert Camus is the best-known author from Algeria, but he is not the only one. Yasmina Khadra is another. It’s the feminine pen name used by the masculine Mohammed Moulessehoul, who served in the Algerian Army and wanted to avoid censorship. This particular novella is part of the French Voices series of translations at the… [Read More]
Foreign Language Final Exam
(Note: as I struggle with learning a foreign language, I wrote this little piece. It’s supposed to be humorous – or is it?) This semester we have learned how to ask for directions to the library, analyzed passages by the greatest of the foreign language’s authors,and parsed details about the proper uses of the subjunctive… [Read More]
South Africa: Ivory from Paradise
I’m finally at the end of the African book project. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. The last country on the list is also the wealthiest in Africa, the Republic of South Africa. I read Ivory From Paradise, by David Schmahmann. It’s the story of a white family that scatters from… [Read More]
